What U.S. schools can learn from Russia

“Those of us who have traveled to [other] countries come away with the same conclusion,” Domenech writes: “Their students are more disciplined and full of rote knowledge that comes in handy when being tested—but they lack the independent thinking and creativity that is a hallmark of our system of education.”

“Learning Leadership” column, Jan. 2013 edition of eSchool News—There is a tendency to beat up on our public schools based on the performance of American students on international tests. The impression that is created is that our schools are not as good as those in the rest of the world.

Let me tell you, that’s a crock.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the world, and generally our schools are the envy of other countries.

Conclusions based on international test results compare apples and oranges. Finland is a wonderful country with a great school system—but it’s the size of Montana, with a population of five million. Singapore is even smaller than Finland, and last I heard, Shanghai is a region of China, not a country. Those comparisons are just not valid or productive.

There are, however, many things that we can learn from other countries. When I travel and visit schools in other parts of the world, I am not looking to establish our superiority. I am looking for things they do different or better than us—practices we might learn from and, if applicable, adopt here in the U.S.

Recently I traveled to Russia with a delegation of school superintendents and board members sponsored by the American Association of School Administrators and the People to People Ambassador Programs.

Many of the people in Russia still lament the dissolution of the Soviet Union some 20 years ago. This is particularly the case when it comes to education. They believe that the educational system in Russia has gone downhill and promises to worsen. The current government regards the system as a “bloated bureaucracy” that has to be brought under control and made more cost-effective and efficient. That’s a point of view that is shared by many people here in America relative to our system.

A new law passed by Russia in July threatens to cut funding for education and would pay for just the basic subjects, thus requiring schools to subsidize their programs by charging parents more fees for services—a practice already in place for co-curricular activities. The fear is that by reducing support for the schools, many children will simply get a basic education and not the enriched curriculum that is part and parcel of high-quality instruction. We fear the same here when management groups and private firms run charter schools on public dollars that come out of school district budgets.

By comparison to the United States, Russia’s schools are very traditional—and that, by the way, is true of most schools around the world. What do I mean by traditional? The schools we visited, regarded as among the best in that country, are still defined by classrooms where children sit in rows and the teacher stands in the front of the room lecturing. This is the “sage on the stage” view of the teacher’s role. The children are well disciplined and polite and generally are homogeneous relative to income and ethnic diversity.

In contrast, America’s elementary classrooms feature desks in different configurations to facilitate small group discussions and interaction among a diverse group of students. Our classrooms also feature centers where children can work on computers, read, or do independent work. Our teachers are being trained to function as directors of learning who individualize instruction.

(Next page: Are we unintentionally destroying the very thing that makes U.S. schools the envy of the world?)

Comments:

kenw

January 3, 2013 at 5:17 pm

It’s fascinating to read about Dan’s responses after a visit to see Russian schools. International professional development helps to keep teachers sane especially if they feel weighed down with testing and league tables which is equally the case for many of our teachers in the UK as it is for colleagues in the USA. But there are great things happening and classrooms are changing to reflect the real world and the advances in technology. I attended a conference in London recently where a guest from Finland spoke confidently but modestly about the great successes of their schools, in a country where children do not start formal school until the age of six and where teachers are highly respected, highly qualified, rewarded well and encouraged to develop professionally throughout their careers. Let’s keep learning from each other!

Ken Walsh (Associate Consultant, Cambridge Education)

PBUSSET

January 3, 2013 at 10:03 pm

My first emotion when I read this article, was recalling the feeling of excitement that a visitor gets in some classrooms as active learners reach over tables and discuss their project with their peers. If Mr. Domenich did not feel this kinetic energy in some of the world’s highly rated school systems, then I do believe that this valuable spark is missing and should be added to all classrooms… This article again confirms that when you have a wider lens on a subject of concern, as this article provides, you can have a real exchange of thoughts and ideas, that bring us much closer to providing quality education to all….Finally, educators the world over, should become astute readers of economic news, and at the first downturn in the economy have ready an arsenal of data on their students success and it’s value to society.

lbriggs864

January 4, 2013 at 9:03 pm

One of the key things I noted was that the children were well-behaved. That cannot be said in my American school, and administration puts that problem squarely on the teacher. I shudder to think what our test scores will look like this year with the students running around out of control.

irishmafia116

January 8, 2013 at 5:28 pm

Interesting until you mentioned “subsidizing”, once again the answer is always “more money”.When in fact we are at an all time high on money spent per pupil -yet results are worse. Prime example -in Georgia lottery funds pre school -read FREE day care–and any threat to cut funding rolls out the usual “experts” with a financial interest in keeping the dollars flowing, yet after billions of dollars and 20 years of FREE pre school, graduation rates have barely moved, droputs the same, college remediation a travesty, test scores still among the worst in the USA . But the answer is always -more more more. IMOHO, the only and I mean only soultion to improving education -is when PARENTS make education important at home ! Failing that, most everything else is hit and miss